THE 9TH ARRONDISSEMENT

Stretching from the ultra-chic of La Madeleine to the hippy chic of Pigalle, the 9th is one of the most sought-after arrondissements in Paris, offering something for everyone and drawing everyone into its midst. It is a mixture of a shopper’s paradise yet still replete with offices and company headquarters. Consequently, the 9th is charged daily with a significant number of Paris’s more than 1.2 million suburban commuters, using either public or private transport. One of the principal complaints of its inhabitants is the level of traffic using the main thoroughfares on the boulevards, the rue Lafayette and the rue de Châteaudun. The arrondissement also suffers from a lack of open spaces and waterways, with neither the Seine nor the canals passing through the arrondissement. This is not, therefore, an area for claustrophobics.

What then makes it so enticing? Firstly, it is precisely the centrality and accessibility of the 9th which is one of its attractions. In the quaint streets of the village St-Georges centred on the place St-Georges, the rue des Martyrs and

rue Notre Dame-de Lorette, and the place Goustouve-Toudoze, the apartments are large and well built, having first been constructed by nineteenth-century bankers working in the principal banking district around the Opéra-Garnier at the southern limit of the 9th.

The rue des Martyrs is a bustling market street, in an area of Paris that has drawn many showbusiness and fashion celebrities as neighbours to the bankers and young middle-classes in a truly village atmosphere. Several recent surveys have noted the strong presence of both publishers and editors, for instance. The street is a popular venue for brocantes (open-air antique markets), and the locals have turned it into a pedestrian reserve on Sundays. The proximity to Pigalle and a young wealthy local community has also led an increasing number of trendy clothing and interior design shops to open in the streets between the rue des Martyrs and the place Gustave-Toudoze. New restaurants have also opened up in the place of market traders, and the street is now livelier in the evenings than before. The avenue Trudaine at the top of the rue des Martyrs is a sought-after spacious tree-lined street more reminiscent of the 7th arrondissement, quite simply offering the best of both worlds.

The fact that the area is favoured by many showbiz celebrities is hardly surprising given the number of theatres in the area. The 9th has always had a reputation as an artist’s quarter, and Delacroix, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Bizet, and Berlioz all made their homes here. The avenue Frochot was home to the Renoir dynasty, and today is an exclusive enclave for film stars and fashion designers. The area from Trinité to the boulevard de Clichy, was known as the 'Nouvelle Athenes'- the New Athens of the nineteenth-century intellectual elite. The Museum of the Romantic Life (Musée de la Vie Romantique) in the rue Chaptal is the former home of Georges Sands where she received her lover Chopin.

The eastern and western extremities of the 9th bring you to calmer more bourgeois areas. To the west is the quartier d'Europe, shared with the 8th arrondissement, behind the Gare St Lazare. The eastern limits of the arrondissement bring you to the market street of rue Cadet and the square Montholon. Bordering on the 10th and only minutes away from the Gare du Nord, this area too has a bourgeois calm about it.

The 9th arrondissement is bound north and south by boulevards. To the north lie the boulevards de Roche-chouart and de Clichy, with music and sex industries vying for shop space beneath artists’ ateliers converted to sought-after loft apartments facing north to the Sacré-Coeur. To the south, the Grand Boulevards, offer a nonstop parade of shopping and entertainment. The boulevards between La Madeleine and the Opéra offer the chicest shopping, whilst the great Parisian department stores of Galeries Lafayettes and Printemps are on boulevard Haussman.

Cinemas are concentrated on boulevard des Italiens, whilst the boulevards Montmartre and Poissonière still play home to many theatres and night-clubs which make this a frantic part of Paris at the weekends. In the Faubourg Montmartre, a significant Jewish community is based in the streets between the boulevards, the rue de Provence, and the Folies-Bergères. In contrast, the quiet rue Drouot is the headquarters of the main Paris auction houses and stamp-collectors. Weaving their way between the two streets and the boulevards, a series of covered shopping galleries or passages offer an enticing taste of nineteenth-century Paris.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of the 9th is that to go out and enjoy yourself, you need never be very far from home. The world of entertainment and all the major shops are at your doorstep, whilst you have the chance to live in generally spacious apartments in either neat calm contentment or a livelier more haphazard village atmosphere.

THE10TH ARRONDISSEMENT

It took me almost ten years to finally become reconciled to the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Up until then, my view of the 10th was mainly limited to visits to the Gare du Nord, and occasional peripheral views of this arrondissement as I willed the taxi driver to get me out of this part of town as quickly as possible. And yet I now find myself being drawn back again and again by the charm of an up-and-coming quartier which mixes almost sublime romanticism with the ridiculously squalid.

For all the improvements that have been made, squalor does remain an overriding problem in this arrondissement with an extremely high immigrant population, legal and otherwise; a renowned crime problem which cannot and should not be ignored when considering living in this area; and a fair dose of less salubrious ‘under-life’ which tends to congregate around major railway stations. With the dominant neighbouring railway stations and tracks, the area is curiously reminiscent of north-central London – Kings Cross and St Pancras together with a dash of Euston and lower Camden — with similar kinds of problems and moves towards urban renewal.

What then draws me back to the 10th? The most important reason is the Canal St Martin, where Amélie from Montmartre came to skim her stones, running through the 10th from Stalingrad to Republique where it disappears from view underground to Bastille. The car-free quais are popular on Sundays with bladers, cyclists and strollers drawn to the beautifully restored waterway, and the various bridges criss-crossing the canal lead to a fine selection of shops which mark the complete regeneration of this industrial thoroughfare; from Balmain to Lacroix, to the pastel shades of the ‘Antoine et Lili’ emporium at the wonderful Pont aux Grange des Belles. The Canal St Martin has the air of a number of successful similar restorations, such as Canal Street in Manchester, or the upper, less frenetic regions of Camden Lock.

But the 10th has much more to offer than simply the canal. On the southern edge stand the two magnificent restored triumphal arches of Louis XIV, the Porte St Martin and the Porte St Denis. You should take care at both portes, especially St Denis which was the heart of drug-dealing in Paris, Strasbourg St-Denis. The two arches marked the original city limits, and the seventeenth-century Hôpital St Louis was built beyond the city walls to keep the pestilent at bay. Beside the Gare de 1'Est the derelict eighteenth-century convent-turned-hospital Villemin was abandoned from 1968. It has now been restored and partially rebuilt to create a splendid cultural centre and artists’ residence. The gardens just behind it are already open to the public, offering a rare haven of green open space. Just across from the Gare de l'Est and the Villemin Hospital stands the hidden medieval gem of the Eglise St Laurent.

In terms of culinary opportunities, the high immigrant population has left its mark on the arrondissement. The Passage Brady off Faubourg St Denis is the well-known capital of Indian cooking in Paris, and a little Bombay seemingly frozen in time since the 1950s. The Marché St Quentin on boulevard Magenta offers a choice of fresh produce in a nineteenth-century covered market. Trendy restaurants and cafes are creeping along the canal and the Grands Boulevards to the south, although cheap Kurd cafes still abound. If you enjoy choucroute, Alsatian wines, and other delicacies from eastern France, then head for the clutch of restaurants opposite the Gare de l'Est, the gateway to Alsace.

There is little doubt that things are only going to get better in the 10th arrondissement (cynics would say, given that in certain areas they could not have got any worse ...), and it is one of the few central Paris arrondissements to still offer the opportunity to purchase real lofts in Paris in former warehouses. New transport plans will further increase the attraction of the area, and a high-speed link to Roissy is being discussed at the moment. Advertising companies and Internet start-ups are moving in beside the fashion houses, alongside the immigrant sandwich shops and cheap clothing stores in what is already being called Paris’s answer to New York’s So Ho.

The 10th was everybody’s ‘hot tip’ for purchasing three years ago, and the prices are rising even if they still rest reasonable away from the canal. The continual renewal will ensure some of the best inner-city living when or if the basic problem of insecurity is overcome. No matter what happens, for those willing to take a little rough with their smooth, the 10th is still a very good bet.

THE1TTH ARRONDISSEMENT

The 11th is an area of Parisian paradox, both highly successful in many respects and yet failing in other areas. This is best seen in its population figures, for the most densely populated arrondissement of Paris also has the highest rate of population decline. The population of the 11th is a rich social mix from the traditional bourgeoisie to the new Parisian Bobos and also a high number of low-income immigrants.

In the northern part of the 11th bordered by the Faubourg du Temple, the boulevards de Belleville and de Ménilmon-tant, the boulevard Jules Ferry and the rue Jean Pierre Timbaud, you will find the concentration of the poorer north African immigrant communities, in what was a working-class district of workshops and workers’ homes and communities. This area remains one of the cheapest areas of the 11th, although creeping gentrification is leading to higher prices. A further large swathe of the 11th from the upper end of avenue de la République to boulevard Voltaire and down to Nation is deeply residential and frankly not very exciting territory. There are plenty of apartments on offer, but the real excitement in the 11th is in the south-west corner with the exception of rue Oberkampf.

The explosion of activity on the rue Oberkampf, one of the trendiest in Paris, has spread into the surrounding streets and even up to the métros at Ménilmontant or Belleville, mark the limit of the ‘Oberkampf effect’ as journalists refer to it. On the rue Oberkampf itself, the cafés are to be found in converted shops which have kept their original shopfronts and used the original names for the bars which are now thronged in the evenings. Around about this street property prices have rocketed. Locals fear the loss of the working-class feel to the area, although this is what everybody is desperately craving, even if they prefer the look to the reality.

The area to the south, bordered by the boulevard Beaumarchais (and the Marais) and the Faubourg St Antoine, and with the pivotal point of the place de la Bastille, offers a mix of excellent apartments (at a price), the best transport links and some of the finest of Paris nightlife from opera to bars to nightclubs. The western boundary boulevards running from République are chic addresses with solid ancient buildings and good apartments. In the rue Amelot just behind there is a good mix of styles also, and a fine selection of shops and bars. The garden-filled boulevard Richard Lenoir covering the lower section of the Canal St Martin is home to the local market, considered one of the best in Paris.

The rues Popincourt and Sedaine have become one of the last battlegrounds in the 11th between the newer and older styles of population. Noticeably less well maintained but with good apartments available nonetheless, the area has been subject to a recent Chinese immigrant innovation of wholesalers repeating exactly the same problems as in the 3rd arrondissement.

From the rue de la Roquette to the Faubourg St Antoine and bordered by the rue Faidherbe is ‘the golden triangle’ of the 11th; the nee plus ultra in trendy living. Nightlife is centred on the Faubourg, the restored rue de Lappe, and the lower end of the rue de Charonne, all of which also house designer clothes shops. The rue Keller with its bars, galleries, shops and the Paris Lesbian and Gay Centre never lacks for imaginative street theatre.

In some respects both the short rue de la Forge Royale and the rue Keller (with a school opposite the Paris Lesbian and Gay Centre) best represents the Parisian paradox of the 11th. At the quieter end leading off rue Basfroi the streets seem run down, even menacing at times. At the other end of the street stand trendy nightspots favoured by the BCBG (bon chic bon genre) upper class youth, surrounded by a clutch of trendy shops and galleries. Beyond the rue Faidherbe, the Faubourg St Antoine slips rapidly into suburban dullness and a seemingly never-ending path to the Place de la Nation.

The population problems of the 11th may be explained by a very short migration from one arrondissement to its neighbour, the 12th, which offers more of the same but more open spaces. It is very much a young person’s quartier, and is a popular destination for young singles, couples, and also the gay community, especially in the trendy areas where personal space is a lower priority. But none of these groups are child-producing and so the population level stagnates and declines. Getting the most out of the 11th does require a certain amount of sacrifice in terms of either income or comfort or both, but it does offer many advantages.

THE 12TH ARRONDISSEMENT

Spreading from the Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes, the 12th is the great success story of Parisian urban regeneration. It has the highest level of population growth of all the arrondissements, and with its forest, parks, promenades and cycle tracks, the Seine waterfront and the Canal St Martin yacht harbour, it is not difficult to understand why the area is now so popular.

The area has undergone several vast renovation projects since the days 25 years ago when it was a dreary industrial backwater covered by railway tracks, most notable for its exits to the south via the Gare de Lyon or the forest in the east. The construction of the great Opéra house at Bastille was the signal for the renovation of the area directly adjacent, and around the rue de Charenton, the avenue Ledru-Rollin and along the south side of the Faubourg St Antoine is one of the trendiest districts of Paris, buzzing with designer shops, bars and people, and shared with the neighbouring 11th arrondissement. The exclusive Port de

I'Arsenal on the edge of the Place de la Bastille adds a mini-St Tropez feeling to the whole area, with yachts and pleasure boats bobbing about at the entrance/exit to the Canal St Martin. And just to round off the area, the formerly dull quai de la Rapé is now also acquiring a selection of nightlife similar to the restored banks of the 13th opposite.

At Faidherbe-Chaligny, the Faubourg St Antoine seems to calm down into more tranquil and picturesque residential calm, before filtering out into the dull residential mass of the area around Nation. Picpus is a distinctly upper-class area, with good schools nearby and nearby avenue de Saint Mandé leads into the neighbouring town, a chic suburb nestling between Paris and its eastern forest.

Forming a natural barrier between the ‘old’ 12th and the ‘new’ is the Viaduct des Arts, running along the avenue Daumesnil from just behind the Opéra to the park at Reuilly. The abandoned railway viaduct has now been converted into a selection of superb design shops for both interiors and clothing, and just for good measure you will also find a sprinkling of trendy cafes from which to watch the passing rollerbladers.

The Gare de Lyon still dominates its own quartier, with the inimitable Train Bleu restaurant in the station forming a romantic railway meeting point. Between the station and the river is the area which has caused the most excitement in recent years following on from the massive construction of the Finance Ministry at Bercy in the 1980s and the great Palais des Sports, home to indoor concerts and sporting events.

The smaller disused Bercy station and its attendant areas have been almost completely razed, redesigned and reconstructed to provide a highly sought-after series of apartment complexes looking over the beautifully-designed Pare de Bercy at the Cour St Emilion, which is ideal for children. Beside the park the former wine stores for the produce from the south have been converted into a shopping mall, finished off with a massive multi-screen cinema complex. Unfortunately the architects got so carried away that they forgot to plan a school and any local shops, but this is apparently to be resolved in the near future. In any case, it has not stopped property prices soaring in this new development which symbolises the new wealth of Paris.

At the far end of the avenue Daumesnil before it disappears into the Bois stands the Porte Dorée, a relaxed area with direct access to one of the large boating lakes in the Bois, and the popular Pelouse de Reuilly where each year the great Paris funfair the Fôire du Trone takes place. Beside the lake you will also find the Paris Zoo, considered to be the best in France. New plans to bring the Parisian tramway to this part of the 12th, and to redevelop the areas between the périphérique and the inner parallel boulevards (boulevards des maréchaux) should further develop the attraction of this area.

With all of this so close at hand, it is not hard to see the attraction of the 12th for young families. This has been the real secret of the success of the 12th, and has best shown the life-style requirements of the new Parisians who want space, security, and a healthy environment in which to raise their families. Not unsurprisingly, property prices have risen steeply in the area but the 12th has successfully renewed its population to attract the kind of young professional families who can afford the higher prices. Many of these families probably could have found accommodation in their traditional homelands in the west of Paris, but they have made conscious life-style choices in moving to the renewed, open, trendier east of Paris amongst ‘their own kind'. The urban addition now seems to be that the Bastille + Bercy + Bois = Bobo, and the 12th is the tribal homeland par excellence of this new breed.

THE16TH ARRONDISSEMENT

The rich tree-lined western edge of Paris, equivalent to London’s Kensington and Knightsbridge in population and style, provides the other, western, ‘lung’ to the city, bordering both the péripherique and the Bois de Boulogne. Centred on the three ancient villages of Auteuil, Chaillot, and Passy, and stretching out to the Porte de Saint-Cloud and down to the Seine, the arrondissement encompasses everything west of the ‘new town’ and is now the most huppé (ultra-chic) area of Paris.

The 16th is a solidly rich, upper-class, and family-orientated residential area beyond the offices of the avenues Kléber, Marceau and Victor Hugo, the shops of the rue de Passy, and the headquarters of Radio France, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the largest but far from only diplomatic legation in the area. With its grand avenues and discreet leafy villas (private streets), the area is popular with film stars, diplomats, the richer expatriate community, and an increasing number of young families. The result is that demand far outstrips supply for places in municipal crèches, even though according to the local mayor, ‘In our arrondissement, the family is the principal value’ (L'Express, 11 January 2001). Given the wealth of many of the residents the lack of crèche places proves less of a problem here than in other areas, as the number of au pairs and domestic staff is higher. However, speaking from experience, for young single people living in the 16th can be a lonely experience if you do not have the appropriate means, even if your accommodation is provided.

The gilded youth of the 16th, who often are the scions of French noble families or captains of industries, will more often than not be educated at the same schools as their parents, such as the excellent Lycée de Janson de Sailly in the rue de la Pompe, beside the mairie, where generations of their same family have been educated and intermarried, before themselves settling in the leafy streets nearby. The mayor is right when he says that the family is the principal value of the arrondissement, but he is also talking with his tongue in his cheek. Locally la jeunesse dorée of the 16th can be found hanging out in the 'm'as-tu vu?' ('did you see me?') havens of La Gare at Porte de la Muette (the former railway station converted into a bar-restaurant) or Le Duplex, handily situated at the end of Millionaire’s Row on avenue Foch.

Strolling through the streets of the 16th, it is not difficult to see what this self-perpetuating group are seeking to preserve for themselves and those whose incomes allow them to join the merry throng. From the Place du Trocadéro with its unrivalled views across to the Eiffel Tower, a stroll up the avenue Georges Mandel and a few detours on the left-hand side below rue de la Pompe brings you to the exclusive villas, which would be incentive enough to make anyone want to move in; small leafy mews-style streets such as you find around Eaton Square in London, and some of the most desirable property in Paris. From rue de la Pompe down to rue de Passy, and around Place du Mexico and rue de Longchamps, you are in closest proximity to the local shops. Auteuil has retained a sweet village-like atmosphere around the métros and church. But the further west you go, the duller the area becomes, with plenty of property at elevated prices for the sought-after 75016 postcode, but less of the attractions. The apartments along the Seine have the advantage of the views towards the Eiffel Tower, if you are lucky, or simply the disadvantage of views on the high-rise 15th arrondissement coupled with one of Paris’s principal highways along the river-bank.

In terms of facilities, the 16th does offer immediate access to the magnificent Bois de Boulogne (the equivalent of Hyde Park or Central Park for Paris), the Pare des Princes football and rugby stadium (with the upsides and downsides that offers ...), a large municipal swimming pool, a racing course of its own at Porte d'Auteuil, and the Longchamps racing course and Roland Garros tennis club all on its doorstep across the arrondissement border. It also offers Paris’s botanical gardens, the Serres d'Auteuil opposite Roland-Garros, and museums of note, such as Balzac’s former home; the Musée Guimet of oriental art; the Museum of Modern Art on avenue President Wilson (with its cafe terrace looking on to the river); the Fashion Museum; and the Musée Marmottan with its world-renowned collection of Impressionist paintings. But not everything in the 16eme garden is rosy.

Public transport is sparsely distributed over this large arrondissement, which has the highest number of cars per household in Paris, a reflection of both necessity and wealth. Taxis are not always willing to take passengers to the 16th at night because they will not be able to find a return fare from the deadly calm residential streets. Surprisingly the 16th also had until recently the unhappy reputation of the highest number of prostitutes in Paris, from ‘regular’ female prostitutes to rent boys to transvestites, and the avenue Foch by night still has a regular collection of partner-swappers. Most of the problems were or are concentrated around Porte Dau-phine and the Bois. Whilst the 16th appears to be squeaky-clean, there is an uneasy sub-culture which can be both simply annoying for local residents but also dangerous because of kerb-crawlers.

Despite what might sound like alarmist warnings about a very particular sort of crime, the 16th is indisputably one of the best areas of the city. But like marriage which forms its bedrock, it is not to be undertaken lightly, irreverently, or unadvisedly. It is an expensive, conservative, and potentially socially cold climate into which to move if you are not prepared for it, or already in some way ‘a member of the club'. Other areas offer similar lifestyles but at a lesser cost and with less restraint for the more independently-minded and younger at heart. But if like-minded security is what you seek, then an apartment in the 16th will be money well-spent.